TOPIC:

I have a great paint gun and I have an amazing compressor (read my retired engineer stepdad has this but doesn't mind letting me use it whenever), I want to learn to paint and eventually hit up my bikes. Where's a good place to find a variety of colors that isn't too expensive? Right now I just need paint for practice, but soon I'll need paint for the real thing.

I also want to start working with an airbrush- will that fire the same kind of paint?

You can go to a auto paint store but they are usually expensive. If you are not looking for a uniques color then try NAPA. They sell gallons of paint, usually just black, red, blue..basic colors. I got a gallon of bl;ack the other day and it was about $25. You will also need hardener, clear, primer, and all the other stuff that goes along with a good paint job. If you are just wanting to learn how to set the gun up and so on then I would say go to NAPA and buy the cheapest stuff they have. Find a few junk motorcycle gas tanks, dented up car doors from the junk yard, and then practice your bondo and paint on them. Then you can just throw them away. Paint is not hard to do. It is all in the prep and finish work. Spraying the paint is easy. Wet sanding and buffing is where the quality finish comes from. Besides, if you mess up you can always just try again.

the most under-rated skill in painting is sanding (wet and dry).

the most important skill ive found when it comes to painting is signing my name on the check! i can get it ready for the paint stage,but thats where i draw the line! goodluck,happy wrenching!

Another place to get cheep paint it at the local automotive paint store. If you don't care about the color a lot of times they have some mis-matched paint they sell cheep. Sometimes a mis-match is a good color to use for your bike.
Mark

There is a guy on the www.sohc4.com forum, dan something that sells paint kits. Check him out.
michel